Chill Factor (1999)

Director:

Hugh Johnson

Writers (WGA):

Drew Gitlin (written by) &
Mike Cheda (written by)

Release Date:

1 September 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

This Fall, Action is served on the rocks, with a twist.

Plot:

If a new biological chemical weapon is exposed to temperatures over fifty degrees Fahrenheit, it'll do something very bad...

Plot Keywords:

Ice Cream Truck | Montana | Gun | Buddies | Restaurant

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Arlo
Skeet Ulrich	...	Tim Mason
Peter Firth	...	Colonel Andrew Brynner
David Paymer	...	Dr. Richard Long
Hudson Leick	...	Vaughn
Daniel Hugh Kelly	...	Colonel Leo Vitelli
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Telstar
Judson Mills	...	Dennis
Jordan Mott	...	Carl
Dwayne Macopson	...	Burke
Jim Grimshaw	...	Deputy Pappas
Richard Todd Aguayo	...	Gomez
K. Addison Young	...	Ranger at Dam
James Van Harper	...	Ranger in Chopper
Tommy Smeltzer	...	Deputy Art Lewis

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #36903) | Iceland:16 | Malaysia:18SG | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Netherlands:12 | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Liberty, South Carolina, USA

Company:

Morgan Creek Productions

Trivia:

The exterior diner scenes were filmed in the small town of Liberty, South Carolina. In real life, the diner is actually a wood shop and the $15/night hotel is actually a coin-operated washette.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Doc Long is explaining to Mason and Arlo about Elvis, Mason switches from one side of Doc Long to the other between shots.

Quotes:

Col. Andrew Brynner: Why? You're nothing, nobody! Why?
Tim Mason: You'd never understand.
Col. Andrew Brynner: I would have in another life. They took all that away and left me with nothing. But now I have it all.

Utter nonsense but at least it was enjoyable to watch

This film was complete trash, but in a good way. I've always looked upon Cuba Gooding Jnr as a semi decent actor but if this is the kind of film he is going to be starring in, then I can see him descending the same way as Charlie Sheen.

You can see from the outset that the makers tried to make one of those high octane action thrillers, which are ten-a-penny these days. But when you've got a budget that would struggle to finance an episode of quantum leap, then maybe making a film of this kind wasn't such a good idea.

They make use of computer graphics in a lot of the action scenes which, to be honest, doesn't look the worst I have ever seen, but still prompts you to snicker at how bad it is. The most ridiculous of which occurs at the end of the movie, when a chemical weapon which we have been told has the power to blow up basically a quarter of America, detonates in a tunnel.

At this point we are subjected to rotten computer graphics which are so bad that I instantly had flashbacks of Dean Stockwell and the film-making atrocity that was the Langoliers.

But the story is complete nonsense, so even with a budget the size of Lord of the Rings, there would be no way of making the whole thing believable anyway. So you can perhaps see where the producer was coming from i.e. lets make a cheap action thriller and we'll plaster Cuba Gooding's face over the front cover and we'll maybe make some money.

It would've have been better if Eric Roberts had been given the leading role.